


Dear Agony Aunt, I have this friend...

by TimeTravelFreak



Series: One Day Is Not Enough [4]
Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Jean freaks out after Eren kissed him and runs to Marco for advice, M/M, Oh, Read at Your Own Risk, a companion piece to hi i'm a thief, a lot of hypothetical thinking, and Eren doesn't show up, cursing, it starts off in Marco's pov but changes to Jean at the end, mentions of boys kissing and confessing, open end, so there's hardcore panicking in the beginning, they just talk about him, turns out I'm bad with free writing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-04
Updated: 2014-04-04
Packaged: 2018-01-18 03:01:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,357
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1412569
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TimeTravelFreak/pseuds/TimeTravelFreak
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Day 4 of EreJean Week.</p><p>Prompt: Free for all.</p><p>Marco is used to his best friend's panicked hammering on his door. What he is less used to is having to sit Jean down and explain why Eren Jeager kissing him is not a prank.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dear Agony Aunt, I have this friend...

**Author's Note:**

> So this one is a bit disjointed? Writing Marco's POV was a lot more difficult than I thought and in the end I gave up and switched back to Jean.

It was ten o'clock in the evening and Jean should be at his date right now. He should not be pounding on his door with a desperation Marco could feel even without seeing his friend.

A dull throbbing in his temples announced that a headache was coming on. He always had one when Jean hammered at his door like that and wasn't it sad that he could recognise his friend simply by the volume of the knocks and the agonised way his door was creaking?

He was just glad that Connie was at Sasha's. The short boy was more than used to having Jean show up at all times of the day, but considering the urgency Jean conveyed through his pounding, his date had probably gone very, very badly.

Blinking Marco stopped trying to extract himself from his blanket for a moment as he considered that he could not only recognise his best friend from the volume of his knocks – if they could even be called that - he could also tell how badly a date had ended by the speed and urgency of it.

There was only once conclusion to draw from that.

Jean dated too much.

“I'm coming, I'm coming! Don't kick the door in, I'd have to pay for it!”

For a moment the knocking stopped before starting again, this time even faster.

Now frowning, Marco hurried to the door and unlocked it, for once cursing the fact that their dorm actually had a decent lock.

The moment he managed to open it, Jean shoved his way in and Marco could tell that something had gone really, really wrong.

Jean's face was pale, his hair dishevelled, barely restrained panic on his face.

“He kissed me!” He burst out, the whites of his eyes showing and Marco quickly shut the door and wrapped his arms around the younger boy, trying to remember what to do in case of a panic attack.

Jean had never had one before, but the way he looked now, it was well possible he was going to work himself up into one.

“Easy there Jean,” he soothed, his worry picking up a notch when he noticed the trembling in his friend's limbs.

“Come on, slow down a little. Take a slow breath, in and out, that's it.”

Jean's hand gripped the back of his shirt tightly and buried his face in Marco's neck, still shivering, but making an effort to calm down.

Gently he patted the younger boy's back, relieved that the slow breaths seemed to help.

Once Jean had calmed down a little, Marco tugged at his hand, leading him to the bed and made him sit down, quickly following and wrapping his arm around the other boy's shoulders.

“Okay, do you think you're calm enough to talk?” He asked, not even trying to conceal the concern in his voice.

Jean took another deep breath and nodded.

“Yeah, sorry. I didn't mean to burst in like that. I just-” He took another breath as his voice wavered.

Marco tightened his grip a little.

“You were on your date right? With the girl you met in Professor Moblit's class.”

A thought occurred to him as he said it.

“If your date was a girl then who is 'he'?” He asked startled and Jean started to giggle, a hint of hysteria in his voice.

“Eren,” he chocked out. “ _'He'_ is Eren fucking Jeager who crashed my date and fucking kissed me in the middle of the road.”

Marco stared.

Okay, so things were even more out of control than he had thought. But on the up side, maybe it wasn't necessarily bad.

“Well. That's not what I expected you to say,” he admitted. “Though it's good that he finally got over his hesitation.”

This time it was Jean's turn to stare, his eyes wide and incredulous.

“What are you saying?” he sounded honestly confused. “Wait. You knew he was going to pull something like this?”

Now he sounded upset and Marco had the bad feeling that they were talking past each other.

“Jean, stop for a second. There was no way I could have known he was going to crash your date. You know I would have told him to pick a better time to confess to you than that.”

Jean chocked.

“You mean he was serious?” His expression showed his disbelief.

Marco sighed.

“Alright, let's start at the beginning,” he said again. “You met up with the girl – what was her name again? Then what happened?”

“We met up and started to walk towards the restaurant. We talked a bit and she was... well, she wasn't exactly little miss sunshine if you catch my drift,” Jean's lips curled.

With a wince Marco could imagine what had happened. He had heard that the girl didn't exactly have the best reputation in the world. Most of the people he had asked to describe her had said something along the lines of 'devil reincarnated', 'terrible personality', 'violent' and 'do you have a grudge against her? I know a nice out-of-the-way place where nobody would find her body'.

That hadn't exactly been confidence inspiring, though for Jean's sake he had kept his mouth shut, only keeping his eyes open in case she really did treat his friend badly.

Not that Jean needed his protection. The brown haired boy was more than capable of fighting his own battles – in fact, most of the time Marco had to reign his friend in once he went off at someone.

Still, he liked knowing that he could step in if the younger boy ever needed it. While Jean was more than self-sufficient, he also had a tendency to get in over his head, not physically or mentally but emotionally.

Being able to smack down bullies physically and verbally didn't mean he wasn't hurt by their actions, no matter how well he might hide it.

“She shoved me once when I said something she didn't like. Of course, it didn't really budge me, I'm not that frail,” Jean actually smirked a bit at that and Marco was glad to see the familiar expression on his face.

“Oh, no, you are such a delicate little thing. Are you sure she didn't break something?” He muttered obligingly, though his heart still clenched at the thought of someone even trying to hurt his best friend.

This time it apparently had an easy end, but if it had been someone else, another man or woman who were more vicious, this could have ended really badly.

Jean chuckled at his joke and continued, his smile sliding off his face when he mentioned what happened next.

“Then Eren showed up.” Jean hesitated a little. “I think he saw that she shoved me and that I was upset with her because he got this really strange look on his face.”

Marco took a deep breath, slowly so he wouldn't alert his friend.

He had known for a while now that Eren liked Jean more than he was admitting and he could only imagine what had been going on in the dark haired boy's head tonight.

“He just stormed toward us, told her to get lost and then he-” His face flushed. “Then he kind of grabbed me and kissed me and he said-” Jean stopped.

“He said?” Marco prompted gently.

“He said he loves me.” Jean's voice was timid in a way Marco had only rarely heard it before.

“Ah, that would do it,” he murmured, also to himself.

Jean was used to falling for people and he was used to chasing them.

He wasn't used to being confronted with another person's feelings for him, especially not like this.

“You don't sound surprised.”

Jean sounded almost accusing and Marco couldn't help his guilty smile.

“I knew he likes you,” he admitted. “Have for a while now. He wasn't exactly subtle about it.”

Jean snorted a little at the thought of Eren being subtle about anything before pausing.

“Then why didn't I realise it? I'm usually pretty good at this kind of thing.”

Marco frowned.

It was true. Jean had suspected that Connie and Sasha were going out before anyone else even realised that they knew each other. So it was surprising that Jean, perceptive of other peoples' moods as he was, hadn't noticed anything.

He thought for a moment.

“Say,” he started slowly, “when did the two of you become friendly? I remember it was in high school, but I can't remember when exactly.”

Jean shot him a look, obviously wanting an explanation, but humouring him for now.

“It was in high school,” he agreed. “In the last semester of our second year there. We were sixteen? Seventeen? Something like that. You were in your last year and looking into which College to go to, I remember that.”

Marco nodded slowly. He had been busy with College applications and finding a place in the dorm, one of his teachers had taken his sweet time with a recommendation he had promised to write and he had generally just been stressed. To his shame, he had been neglecting his friends a lot in that time.

“And how did that start? I mean you didn't exactly decide to become friends from one day to the next.”

Jean rolled his eyes a little at that.

“Just... I don't really know? It kind of snuck up on me. One day we were fighting about something or other and the next he was just... He wasn't being a dick so we got to talking.”

Marco raised an eyebrow, knowing that it couldn't have been that easy. He also knew that Jean hadn't exactly been the most pleasant person to Eren either.

The younger boy caught the look on his face and rolled his eyes again.

“Look, I know that I'm not exactly innocent when it comes to picking fights with Eren, but...

At first it was just about Mikasa,” he tried to explain. “But after I got over her I tried to stop arguing with him. I mean, I'm not exactly fond of pain and we got in trouble a lot because of it too, so I thought 'screw it, I'll just stay away from him', but he just-

Every time we met he'd just get in my face or even just stare at me or he was being deliberately obtuse, or he did some stupid as fuck shit that I had to call him out on.”

Marco had to fight a smile. Fights between Jean and Eren had been legendary. 

Not the ones where it was about something petty or stupid and which were just an excuse to let off some steam, but the real ones Those where one of them had done or said something that got the other so hot under the collar about that they exploded into a fit of – most of the time – unexpectedly eloquent rage, where they held minute-long speeches about why what the other had done was a shitty thing to do and why he should apologize.

The teacher overseeing the debate club had made watching their fights mandatory viewing - at least the part before the inevitably following fistfight. 

She had been inconsolable that the passionate and inspiring Eren, who could turn any head when holding a speech, and the quick and scathing Jean, whose tongue was sharp enough to cut through glass, had had absolutely no interest in arguing with anyone but each other.

Now Marco was slowly coming to realise that during their fights Eren may have become hot under the collar in more ways than one.

“Another part of it was habit I guess,” Jean grudgingly admitted. He and Eren had known each other since they were twelve years old and they had spent a large part of their acquaintance fighting. It wasn't surprising that they had had trouble stopping.

“Still, he stopped picking fights about stupid shit and he didn't glare at me like I killed his firstborn anymore and things got a little friendlier between us.

Then Sasha and Connie started dating, you were still busy with College stuff and so were Reiner and Bertold and Annie was always with them. Even Mikasa and Armin had some kind of stuff to do so we just kind of started to hang out together?”

Jean tilted his head, frowning as he tried to remember it.

Marco shook his head in amazement. Maybe Eren could be subtle after all. While he had known about Eren's Feeling (or at least had his suspicions about them), he had had no idea that the Boy had been harboring them for such a long time.

Though that was only true if his suspicions were proven correct.

Impatiently Jean curled into Marco's arm a little more.

“That's it. Now it's your turn. Since when has Eren 'liked me'” he actually made air-quotes with his hands “and since when have you known about it?”

Jean's slender eyes narrowed even more as he glared at him and Marco smiled again.

“I've known about it since you started College? So around a year, maybe a year and a half.”

Jean stared and Marco quickly continued.

“At first I wasn't sure. I mean I was more used to the two of you acting like cat and dog, so actually seeing you two talk with each other in indoor voices was a bit of a shock. But it was kind of obvious if you knew where to look.

He was always in a bad mood whenever you were going out with other people and whenever you broke up, he was always halfway between being happy and being sad for you.”

Jean's eyes were wide but he quickly protested.

“There could be any reason for that! It doesn't have to be because he likes me.”

Marco nodded, though he didn't think he was wrong about it.

“Then there was the way he looked at you – looks at you. Do you remember when we went dancing on Mikasa's birthday last year? You were wearing those really tight jeans and Sasha bullied you into putting on eye-liner.”

Marco smirked a little as he remembered that. The only reason he still knew what Jean had been wearing was because he had watched Eren ogle the other boy all evening.

“When he saw you in that outfit I was surprised he didn't break his jaw, as hard as it hit the floor. And the only reason nobody tried to take you home that night was because he scared away everyone who even thought about it. You know, with that glare of his that makes you take ten steps back and reconsider your life-choices.”

Jean didn't even comment on that description, too preoccupied with what he had been told.

“Then there is the way he stares at you whenever you're wearing your glasses,” Marco continued, feeling oddly enthusiastic about finally airing his suspicions.

He didn't really know why Jean was so reluctant to accept that Eren really liked him, was in love with him even, but he had the feeling that he would find out why in the course of the evening.

“My glasses?” Jean was incredulous. The younger boy disliked them, preferring his contacts, and only wore them when his eyes were dry or hurting, or he had a headache.

Or he had overslept and didn't have the time to put them in.

Marco just shrugged in response. He thought that they suited Jean in a weird way, though he knew better than to say that out loud.

“He always does this double take when he sees you wearing them and keeps staring when you're not looking. And haven't you ever noticed that when you turn towards him to ask or tell him something his reactions are delayed?”

Jean shook his head.

“I just thought he was either tired, drunk, on drugs, or being even more stupid than usual.”

Tiredly he twisted out of Marco's grip and let himself fall backwards so he was lying halfway on the bed. His date had been terrible, someone whom he had considered an enemy-turned-friend wanted to be something completely different and Jean...

Jean didn't know what to do.

He liked Eren. He hadn't always liked him, but it was hard to hate someone who rubbed your back when you were puking your guts out after a post-break-up drinking binge, who made you laugh when you were in a bad mood and who cared enough about you to pass on going to a concert they had been looking forward to for months just to nurse you back to health when you caught the flu.

Of course, a really good friend might do that too, as Marco could attest to, but Marco was his best friend, while Eren was an enemy-turned-friend. They had become close, but not close enough that Jean felt comfortable about asking him for help. It had always been Eren who had offered a hand or a shoulder to cry on.

In retrospect, maybe there had been moments in which he had wondered about their relationship.

When Eren's hand lingered just a few seconds too long on his shoulder after a greeting.

When he sat just that little bit too close when they were itting beside each other.

When his eyes softened whenever Jean had done something to make him happy.

Maybe he had seen it and just ignored it because he hadn't wanted to acknowledge it.

“What are you thinking about?” Marco looked down at him, a steady and calming presence beside him.

“I'm thinking about what to do now,” he said, throwing one of his arms over his eyes to block out the light in the room.

“If you are right and Eren was serious, then I have to reply somehow. I can't just ignore it and hope it goes away.” Though the thought of at least trying it was tempting.

Marco hummed in a agreement.

“I don't think you should rush into anything. Eren won't be happy about an answer if he thinks you made your decision half-assed. You know him, he's the either all or nothing type.”

Jean growled.

“That's not exactly reassuring you know,” he complained.

A large hand grabbed his arm and gently removed it from his face. Marco was smiling, but there was also something stern in his eyes.

“It should be reassuring though. You can be sure that he wouldn't have said anything if he were unsure about it. The fact that he actually confessed after kissing you, no matter how spontaneous it might have been, should tell you something about his feelings.

Besides,” he added, “if he wants an all or nothing kind of commitment from you, no matter which you choose, he won't mind waiting for a while.”

Surprised Jean tilted his head.

“Waiting?”

Marco nodded. “I know you Jean. You've had so many disappointments when dating people that you've started to hold yourself back, even if it's just a little.

That kind of thing won't work with Eren. He knows you, he'll know if you act differently or if you regret your decision. So you have to think carefully about what kind of relationship you want to have with him.”

Jean scowled to hide the unease that thought caused him.

“You're assuming that I'll actually go out with him,” he complained again.

His friend smiled.

“That's what you'll have to think about, isn't it.”

It wasn't a question.

With another sigh Jean closed his eyes. If he didn't want to ruin the friendship he had with Eren right now, whether it turned into something more or not, he would have to consider his options carefully.

He would have to consider his feelings carefully.

And he would have to think about how to convey these feelings to Eren. The other boy might think that it was okay to just kiss someone, confess spontaneously and then run away, but Jean disliked improvising when something as important as this was at stake.

At least he had some leeway there. The only thing Eren would find unforgivable was lying and holding back the truth.

“Why is romance so hard?”

Marco laughed.

“Because it's worth it.”


End file.
